Bit players come to fore in victory

PHILADELPHIA — Something poignant came out of Thad Young’s mouth Wednesday night, which isn’t exactly a surprise considering how well-spoken he is.

“When we have a collective, team effort where everybody’s giving something,” the 76ers forward said, “we’re a hard team to play and a hard team to beat.”

Maybe it required a beatdown of the Washington Wizards, record-wise one of the NBA’s lowliest squads. Maybe it took missing a pair of lineup regulars for varying reasons.

Amid the uncertainty in how it came about was this singular assurance: the Sixers aren’t a bad team.

That much seemed clear in their 92-84 victory over the Wizards at Wells Fargo Center, in which contributions from a cast of supporting characters helped the Sixers (19-26) pick up their fourth win in eight games — as close to a winning streak as a team can get … without actually having one in two months.

Oft-sluggish big Lavoy Allen, who had 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, was on point. Dorell Wright shook off a two-game sitting to the tune of seven points, seven rebounds and five assists. Reserve-turned-starter Spencer Hawes turned in his sixth double-double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

When guys like that play like that ...

“It makes it easier,” said Jrue Holiday, who paired 21 points with six assists. “They kind of saved the day today — defensively and offensively, hitting key shots, getting key stops. Dorell came up really big for us today.”

That they needed a last-gasp look from Holiday to stem the tide against the Wizards (11-33) wasn’t a declaration of a defeatist effort from Washington. (The Wizards have played renewed ball since John Wall returned from injury.) Rather, it showed the Sixers’ weaknesses.

Sixers coach Doug Collins’ hands were tied in this one from the start, too. Defensive specialist Damien Wilkins wasn’t with the team due to personal reasons, and Jason Richardson missed another game with that bum knee, so the Sixers were running with a short bench.

“This group of guys, as I’m trying to get them all figured out, it’s been a challenge to say the least, to get the pieces to fit and try to make the max out of it,” Collins said.

The Sixers got a max effort out of their guys against Washington.

Consider the hole they dug for themselves in the first quarter, when the Sixers needed 28 shots to score 25 points, as they trailed the Wizards, 28-25, heading into the second quarter.

From there, Washington was woeful from the field. The Wizards missed all but one of 11 shots to open the frame, and misfired on 13 of 16 overall. Still, the Sixers couldn’t find a way to create a decent gap on the scoreboard.

“We came to a (second-quarter) timeout and they had five (points),” Collins said. “I think we were up, 38-33, at the time and I said, ‘We should be up 15,’ because our defense had done well.”

Frustrating Washington into 10 first-half turnovers, including a pair of shot-clock violations, was only half of it for the Sixers. Even without Wilkins, the Sixers seemed to lure the Wizards into making bad decisions.

Part of that was the weakside help Thad Young was getting from Spencer Hawes against the Wizards’ Nene. On the perimeter, Jrue Holiday held down Wall, limiting the top pick in the 2010 draft to only four shots in the opening two quarters.

With their defense working, though, the Sixers struggled somewhat at the opposite end.

“Thad was tired,” Collins admitted.

Taking shoulder blows to the chest from the likes of Nene and Emeka Okafor can do that to a guy.

“They kept coming in with big guys, so it definitely got me a little tired in that first part of the game,” Young said, “and I caught my second wind going into the second half. We did a good job holding them off.”

Allen and Hawes did solid jobs in spurts for Young. Holiday, who held Wall to nine points on 3-for-12, did his, too.

“We had a lot of key stops. A lot of them,” said Nick Young, who had 18 points for the Sixers.

Without a sizeable lead late to ease the tension, or flashy fastbreak buckets to generate excitement, it may not have seemed like the Sixers dominated the Wizards.

For a team that’s lost as many games as the Sixers, however, it was a welcome sign.

“I was very proud of our guys,” Collins said. “This was a hard-fought win.”